The COVID-19 pandemic hit the transportation sector hard\nand perhaps the aviation industry hardest. At its worst in April 2020, U.S. air\npassenger transportation declined by 96% year-over-year. While air travel has\nrebounded since that nadir, full recovery is expected to take years,\nparticularly for international and business travel. The passenger air\ntransportation market at the end of the decade is likely to look very different\nthan what had been projected prior to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like all segments of the aviation market, airports will\nneed to adjust to this new normal. Both airlines and airports received tens of\nbillions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts in the United States and returning the\naviation industry to self-sufficiency is the only fiscally sustainable path\nforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To that end, giving airports maximum operational and\nfinancing flexibility to adjust to emerging conditions is critical to\nminimizing the costs and disruptions associated with aviation recovery. One\nimportant way that Congress can facilitate this flexibility at no cost to the\nTreasury is by modernizing the airport passenger facility charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n